October 10, 2023, News Release
FORK UNION, VA – Fork Union Military Academy will formally welcome Capt. Mark Black, USN (ret.) as the Academy’s 12th president in a Change of Command Ceremony on Sunday, October 15, at 1:30 p.m. on the school’s Founder’s Day.
Capt. Black will be taking command from the school’s current President, Colonel David L. Coggins, USMC (ret.), who announced his intent to retire this past spring. The Change of Command will cap off a weekend of festivities as the Academy will celebrate its 125th birthday during the three-day event starting Friday, October 13.
Capt. Black will officially take over from COL Coggins on Monday, October 16. For the past two years, Capt. Black has served the Academy as a teacher of US Military and War History, Leadership & Ethics, and US Government in the Academy’s unique One Subject Plan. He also has coached football, wrestling and lacrosse. He has previously served as Superintendent of Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia.
Capt. Black graduated from Virginia Military Institute with distinction. He was commissioned in the US Navy in 1986 and was designated as a Naval Flight Officer and is a graduate of the famed Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN). During his Navy career, he was selected to serve as a squadron commander and a wing commander before being assigned to lead all Naval personnel in Afghanistan as the NAVCENT Forward Afghanistan Officer in Charge. He was Commanding Officer and Professor of Naval Science at the University of Virginia’s Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Unit and came to the Academy from Fishburne Military School, where he served as Superintendent.
